Commentary—

State Development Money Goes To Fat Cats

By William A. Collins

Cities need,

A shot of zest;

We fund the rich,

And hope that’s best.

Connecticut, being rich, thinks big. Thus, when we want to promote economic development we sift among wealthy developers and corporations and decide which ones should get our multimillion-dollar largesse.

The latest appears to be ING Financial Group. It’s expected to receive around $20 million in state subsidy to move from Hartford to East Hartford. Otherwise it might relocate to, you know, Mogadishu. It’s the same down here in Fairfield County. Diageo (the liquor folks) were promised $40 million to move from Stamford and Westchester to Norwalk. That caused the company to pass up some tempting offers from Whitehorse and Yellowknife.

UConn, too, gets to the trough. How about $91 million for a new stadium, far from the campus? The contractors made a bundle. Otherwise, the place mostly stands empty.

But the boondoggle supreme is Adriaen’s Landing. That white elephant cost taxpayers $770 million, and it’s losing money every day. Consistent with modern development principles, it is located just beyond convenient walking distance to downtown Hartford, with no attempt to link the two. No awning-covered sidewalks leading to the city center, no guiding footprints painted on the pavement, and no direction signs. Plainly, the goal is to keep conventioneer dollars trapped on campus.

Adjacent to this monster is a flattened six-acre urban renewal site. This is where the excitement is supposed to take place. We’re talking here restaurants, bars, stores, condos… To provide all this spontaneous exuberance, a developer has been promised $50 million, but so far, nothing has happened. To date, the site — Front Street, it’s called — has produced more cold feet than an outdoor hockey game. And it is not all that close to downtown anyway.

In the same vein, the General Assembly is now contemplating $45 million to foment the development of 600-acre Rentschler Field, that old United Technologies airport in East Hartford. There’s plenty of space left after the UConn stadium was carved out.

And if you think that’s a big place, just wait for the upcoming development of the old Norwich State Hospital site in Preston. Looks like a movie studio/theme park coming along. Don’t expect the state to get away without subsidizing it though, besides giving away the land.

By now, you get the drift. Connecticut’s concept of assisted development means donating millions to big corporations and developers to do their thing. That is surely the language of our Republican governors and our recent Democratic House speakers. Huge buildings with nifty profit margins have been the name of the game. Citizens need not apply.

But it would be good if they could. A recent trip to look at Adriaen’s Landing also included a stop at Park Street, Hartford’s Latino nerve center and busiest pedestrian neighborhood. Despite some bootstrap private investments, it’s still run-down. Most Anglos won’t go there yet. A few million bucks spent on sidewalks, lampposts, façade improvements, graffiti control and other tools of revitalization would do wonders. The population is already on hand.

Unfortunately, no sleek law firms lobby for fixing up old neighborhoods. Sure, local politicians wheedle a million here or there, but they don’t make big contributions to legislative leadership PACs. Nor do they offer cushy jobs upon political retirement from the House or Senate. Consequently, poor neighborhoods still molder while spiffy new developments spring up outside downtown. Municipal restoration is not Connecticut’s long suit.

 

(Columnist William A. Collins is a former state representative and a former mayor of Norwalk.)