Former Husky Mascot Becomes Bridgeport’s Business Cheerleader

By John Voket

It was not so long ago that Newtown resident Timothy Bartlett was running around in a furry white suit, cheering on Connecticut’s greatest collegiate sports teams as the official UConn Husky mascot. Almost two decades later, he still loves the Huskies, but Mr Bartlett has redirected his energies, becoming one of the rising stars, and biggest cheerleaders, for Connecticut’s largest city.

On Tuesday afternoon, in his capacity as the newly appointed director of the Bridgeport Chamber of Commerce, Mr Bartlett was preparing to lead two busloads of Bridgeport supporters to Hartford to remind the governor, state legislators, and anybody else within earshot know that the Park City remains a worthy contender for state project funding and legislative support.

Mr Bartlett, who makes his home in Botsford, believes Bridgeport is generating the same kind of energy that recently helped turn tired and aging eastern cities from Baltimore to Providence to Portland into thriving examples of urban renaissance. Looking out across downtown from his office at the Bridgeport Regional Business Council (BRBC), he told The Bee about some of the so-called singles and doubles that Bridgeport has scored in recent years.

“We’ve recently started renting dozens of units of artist housing in the former Read’s department store, and we’re on the verge of opening up more market-rate residential space in the vacant Cititrust Building,” he said. “We’re opening another new downtown restaurant this week, and we’ve got plans for several more in the next year or so. And we’re just beginning the historic Arcade Mall redevelopment between Broad and Main Streets.”

While a grand slam has remained elusive, Mr Bartlett admitted that just changing long-held and negative attitudes about the diversely populated Park City could qualify as a home run in and of itself.

“There’s an attitude I’ve been grappling with since I came to work here in 1998, and it still there when I talk with some long-term residents and business people.” he said. “But they’ve been here a long time so the progress seems slower. I guess it’s easier for someone who comes into the city from one of its suburbs than it is for people who have been living here for generations to see and appreciate how far Bridgeport has come in a relatively short time.”

Although his promotion to the Bridgeport Chamber came earlier this month, Mr Bartlett was very much involved with the city’s commercial and development issues as the Trumbull Chamber of Commerce executive, and the vice president of membership growth and services for the BRBC, a member-supported organization that incorporates the Trumbull, Stratford, and Bridgeport Chambers among its affiliates.

He said all the work he has done on behalf of BRBC members throughout the region helped him foster an appreciation for the important role Bridgeport plays in the success of commercial ventures in its neighboring and oftentimes more affluent communities.

“Being immersed in a Bridgeport-focused organization while representing business members in one of its neighboring suburbs has helped make the transition easier,” Mr Bartlett said.

As the new cheerleader for commercial and business initiatives in Bridgeport, Mr Bartlett realizes that he will have to deal with some tough issues. But he believes the experience he has gained as a chamber executive in Trumbull, as well as his experience with nonprofit organizations like the Norwalk and Lakewood-Trumbull YMCAs, have given him a broad perspective of both real and perceived challenges.

“When you look at a community like Trumbull and a city like Bridgeport, we’re only a few minutes away physically, but in some cases it may seem like we’re 5,000 miles away,” he said.

One of the notions he hopes to help dispel is the idea that Trumbull and Bridgeport are neighboring towns separated by a perceived racial divide. He referenced one particularly well-publicized 1999 incident where the late Connecticut Senator Alvin Penn, an African American, was allegedly profiled and harassed by Trumbull police officers.

That incident led to statewide, precedent-setting legislation on law enforcement profiling that now serves as a model for numerous other states and municipalities.

“We’ve come a long way in a short time to defeat that idea. Now we’ve got the Trumbull Police hiring Bridgeport cops and the Bridgeport Fire Department hiring former volunteers from Trumbull,” Mr Bartlett said.

“Like a lot of things people remember about Bridgeport, it was a perception issue that no longer applies. When you’re looking at it from an economic development perspective, you only need to look to downtown’s landscape. When you consider how much positive progress has been made already, you’ve got to be proud of it and stop dwelling on the negatives,” he said.

Mr Bartlett said the progress that is slowly pulling Bridgeport back from a period where the city faced bankruptcy is helping drive business and commercial investments to neighboring communities as well as renewed investment in the Park City.

One of the other ideas Mr Bartlett has is to use the political strength his collective members command, and to depart somewhat from conventional chamber practices, to address particular social issues that could negatively impact businesses in Bridgeport and across Connecticut in the coming years.

“I want to start working on changing the state’s Educational Cost Sharing formula, which I believe is unfairly punishing Bridgeport’s schools and students,” he said. “Today Bridgeport is getting $22–$24 million less than New Haven and Hartford for educational support, and we are the state’s largest city and our schools have larger student populations.”

He thinks he can achieve this goal by helping even small Bridgeport businesses learn how important the city’s education system is.

“I believe it is effecting the quality of our workforce, while contributing to higher training costs and lost productivity in some cases,” Mr Bartlett said. “And from the chamber’s position, the quality of Bridgeport’s educational system effects the way potential businesses look at Bridgeport when they’re looking at relocation and development opportunities. And better schools will help keep good business investors interested in coming here.”

Whether it is lobbying shoulder to shoulder with Bridgeport’s elected officials to secure redevelopment funds or partnering with his chamber members to address relevant issues tied to their collective survival and prosperity, this former Husky mascot is apparently ready, willing, and able to put his best foot forward on behalf of everyone living and working in the Bridgeport region.