nothin Rell Blocks Local $$$—& Neighbors Yawn | New Haven Independent

Rell Blocks Local $$$ — & Neighbors Yawn

Leonard Honeyman File Photo

The governor wants to cancel earmarks” that would improve Morris Cove storm drains, develop Fair Haven industry, and repair Beverly Hills’ sinking” homes. The response from those who might miss out on the money? A collective shrug.

The storm drains in Morris Cove work pretty well now. Progress on River Street’s reviving factory buildings can wait a little bit longer. We weren’t really expecting help for our Westville homes anyway.

That was the word from several (un)interested parties on Wednesday when informed of Gov. M. Jodi Rell’s plan to take away money already approved by the government.

Although the move has sparked a debate on how politicians define earmarks.”

The governor is asking the legislature to do away with dozens of proposed projects that have been authorized for bonding but have not yet received funding. (Click here to read a story about the statewide picture, by the Connecticut Mirrors Keith Phaneuf.)

For the fiscal health of the entire state, it’s time to put a hold on expensive local initiatives proposed by individual legislators, the governor argues. All told, the move would cancel $388.7 million in planned projects.

One of those projects is a proposed $2 million in repairs to sinking homes — like Richard Carr’s (pictured checking out a leak) — with cracked and leaking foundations in the Beverly Hills section of Westville.

Carr’s wife, Rachael Vaters-Carr, said on Wednesday she doesn’t care that the project might be canceled. She said she didn’t think it was ever going to happen anyway.

Not everyone is taking the governor’s proposal in stride. New Haven State Rep. Pat Dillon is ready to fight Rell’s proposal. She said the governor is unfairly trying to rein in legislators’ earmarks” while continuing to pump money toward projects she supports.

Gov. Rell announced her plan on Feb. 2. It comprises two bills now before the state legislature.

The first, SB 25, calls for the cancellation of dozens of bonded projects for which funds have been authorized, but not allocated. The bill targets projects that have been in such a state of limbo for several years.

In New Haven, the bill would cancel $1 million for Morris Cove storm drains, $2 million for repairs of Beverly Hills and Woodbridge homes affected by ground sinking near the West River, $500,000 for the New Haven Museum, $2.5 million for River Street development, $1 million for Fellowship Place, and $500,000 for Youth Continuum. See the full list of proposed cancellations here.

The second bill, SB 27, calls for a new practice of purging bonded projects that have been authorized but not allocated for at least five years.

The two bills are now before the legislature’s Finance Committee.

Both measures are meant to reel in state borrowing in a time of economic hardship, said Jeff Beckham, a spokesman for the Office of Policy and Management. The state’s borrowing has reached its limit, he said.

State law restricts our ability to bond” after a certain amount of borrowing, Beckham said. As the state approaches that limit, the requested cancellations are a way of ensuring there’s room to borrow for things like roads and bridges and schools, he said.

The bulk of the proposed bond cancellations are for lower priority” earmarked projects that are not of statewide significance,” Beckham said. If local governments decide the projects are necessary, they can do their own bonding,” he said.

The cancellation of nearly $400 million in bonded projects would amount to a huge savings to taxpayers,” said Adam Liegeot, a spokesman for Gov. Rell. The plan comes at a time when the state is maxed out on its credit card.”

The governor’s plan is part of an emphasis on addressing Connecticut’s debt, which a focus of the governor’s recent state of the state address, Liegeot said.

Given the state’s current financial situation, some smaller projects have to take a back seat to larger, statewide initiatives, Liegeot said.

Local resistance is understandable,” he said. As governor, Gov. Rell has to make decisions based on the entire state’s fiscal health.”

Define Earmarks”

Melinda Tuhus File Photo

Some of that local resistance” is coming from State Rep. Dillon. She said on Wednesday that she will not vote to approve the governor’s plan as proposed. The repairs to Beverly Hills homes are too important to give up, she said.

For years, homeowners in Beverly Hills have been struggling with cracking and leaking foundations. A study several years ago showed that the homes are built on unstable peat and recommended they be put up on stilts, Dillon said. With cracking foundations, the homeowners have no equity and can’t afford the necessary repairs, she said. They have nowhere to go but the government.”

I have a difference with the governor on this,” Dillon said. She objected to Gov. Rell canceling the Westville repairs project when just last fall she was giving out money to the corporate sector” and to small towns.

Dillon later sent an email with an excerpt from a news report about $379,000 that Rell gave to local arts agencies in Oct. 2009. She said the governor made $1 million in arts grants to small towns last summer, after asking for budget cuts. Preserving housing stock is more important than grants like that, Dillon said.

Dillon also recently noted that Rell’s office gave out $19.7 in bonding for projects in 72 municipalities last March.

Dillon objected to the pejorative use of the word earmark. Is an earmark only a project proposed by a legislator? If it’s proposed by the governor is it an earmark?” she said. I realize it’s used as a slur, but has it been defined?”

If an earmark is a piece of legislation that targets a specific project,” then the governor has been making earmarks, Dillon said.

Rell is a Republican. Many of the local proejcts she supported were in towns represented by Republican legislators. Her bills propose cutting projects mostly in Democratic-represented districts, like all of New Haven’s. Since the Democrats control the legislature, a majority of districts in the state are represented by Democrats.

Nationally, earmarks” have become a controversial term for measures tucked into larger bills that benefit local communities. Politicians rail against them as unneeded pork-barrel” spending — except when they clean water, fix museums or homes, or create jobs in their own districts.

Dillon said Westville repair money from the state could be reduced, but it should not be cut out entirely. The state should set aside at least $400,000 for repairs to the homes that have suffered the most damage, she said.

Dillon said she agrees the state needs to rein in borrowing in order to solve the budget problem. I think we’ve borrowed too much,” she said. But individual projects that are this small are not really the issue.”

People in Beverly Hills need help, Dillon stressed. Their homes are practically tilted sideways.”

Kathie Hurley, who works for the public library, has a home that has suffered some of the worst damage. She lives on Beverly Road, in a house her parents owned before her.

The foundation problem stems from the fact that the neighborhood was built on top of a pond that developers tried to fill in after World War II, she said. They thought they could get away with it.”

It turned out they couldn’t. The land has settled and shifted and Hurley’s foundation is now riddled with cracks.

But she was unfazed by the news that the governor is trying to cancel money that could have paid for her to fix her home. I’m more concerned about the library,” she said. The New Haven public library is trying to get state bonding funds too. (The library is not on the list of proposed cuts.)

Rachael Vaters-Carr lives on Westerleigh Road. She’s also suffered from a cracked foundation and mysterious leaks. But she was similarly unmoved by news that she might not get money for repairs. She said she wasn’t expecting it to happen. And anyway it was the wrong earmark.

The right earmark would claim money to continue to study what’s causing all the cracking foundations in Beverly Hills, Vaters-Carr said. People need to know exactly what the problem is before they try to fix it, otherwise it will just be a waste, she said.

Vaters-Carr said she thinks promises of state money to help the neighborhood with its foundational problems are just myths. It’s mad money” that doesn’t exist, she said. We’re not under any illusion that there is earmarked money.

People weren’t shedding tears over a lost earmark,” she said.

That’s just resignation talking, said Dillon. Neighbors have become so discouraged by the lack of government action, they don’t even want to get their hopes up, she said. They are beat down. There’s no question.”

Unfortunate, Unsurprising

City planner Helen Rosenberg was unconcerned about the governor’s move to cancel bonding for the continued revitalization of River Street. Rosenberg, who works in the city Economic Development Office, has been spearheading a redevelopment plan for the River Street area of Fair Haven.

The city asked the state for about $8 million in 2002 to fund the project. Two installments of several million dollars have been paid, but the third — of $2.5 million — is now on Gov. Rell’s cancellation list.

Nothing’s going to come to a screeching halt,” Rosenberg said. It’s not like there’s a project we were counting on it for.”

The final installment would likely have gone to cleaning up the old Bigelow Boiler site at 198 River St., in order to attract a new business to move in there. But that can wait, Rosenberg said. It’ll just sit there looking decrepit longer.”

The governor’s move is unfortunate, but I’m not surprised,” she said.

The possible loss is a one of potentials, not of concrete plans, Rosenberg said. But there would be a project pretty quickly if we had the money,” she said.

Over in the East Shore, Alderwoman Arlene DePino wasn’t particularly bothered that $1 million to upgrade storm drains is on the governor’s cancellation list.

While there has historically been a big problem with flooding in the area during storms, it’s much better now, she said. New floodgates have been installed near the airport, and new valves. Plus the fire department pulls out its pumps for big storms. It has been much improved,” DePino said.

Even the people on Arden Street who had suffered the most from flooding aren’t complaining anymore. They’re very happy now,” DePino said.

The alderwoman said the same $1 million improvement was promised last year and never delivered. So if it doesn’t come this year: oh, well.

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