The new year means opportunities for Connecticut to grow through infrastructure, internet and the economy, according to Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin.
He delivered this message this week on “The Municipal Voice,” hosted by Connecticut Conference of Municipalities on WNHH FM. (Watch the episode above.)
“It’s one of the areas where the future of Connecticut cities and the future of Connecticut suburbs and small towns are all tied together,”Bronin said.
Bronin agreed with the oft-cited line that were Connecticut to start from scratch, you would not cut a state of 3.5 million people into 169 towns.
“That level of fragmentation makes Connecticut unique or nearly unique,” he said.
It is from this fragmentation that many of Connecticut cities’ problems stem, he said: Over-reliance on property taxes, limited regional coordination, and an increasing need to boost infrastructure can be tied back to that mismatch.
Citing a Federal Reserve Bank of Boston study, he said that Hartford has a large need but a small amount of taxable property to make up those necessary funds. He likened this situation to fighting with one’s hands tied behind their back. Fully funding the Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILOT) program would significantly ease some of these problems, but there would still be inequities in the way that it is distributed.
Many mayors and first selectmen around the state — Bronin among them — recently came out in support of State Sen. Martin Looney’s proposed tiered system in which towns with greater needs see higher levels of funding.
Paul Bass Photo
Luke Bronin at WNHH FM, pre-pandemic.
Bronin (pictured) also said that growth in his city and others will benefit everyone, relieving the need for things like PILOT and addressing the needs capacity gap.
“We’ve pushed hard on sports, culture, theaters,” he said, acknowledging projects like the baseball team, the Hartford Yard Goats.
Getting people to stick around after work and come in on weekends is a tough sell, though. He sees an investment in residential development as one of the ways to spur growth.
Stamford and New Haven have both seen a huge investment in residential buildings. According to Bronin, Hartford is 10 to 15 years behind the work done in those cities.
“People are looking for more space, not wanting to pay an arm and a leg in New York City,” Bronin said. “There’s going to be a shift to mid-size cities where the value proposition is the urban experience, walking to the coffee shop then to work.”
His suggestion to double down on walkable cities comes coupled with his “one big thing” push for the Biden administration to invest in: high speed rail.
With President Joe Biden’s love of rail transportation, we should no longer see this as a pie in the sky idea, he said. It could finally connect all of New England.
At the state level, Governor Lamont’s push for high-speed broadband internet is similarly important.
“If you didn’t see it before, strong reliable high-speed internet, you need it for everything,” he said.
Ultimately, the key to his optimism on growth is connectivity. Whether it’s towns working together for a more equitable and economically savvy future, or high speed rail or internet, powering Connecticut will be a matter of getting all the gears turning at the same time. This is something he believes was starting to happen for Hartford in past years and was stalled by Covid-19.
“We need to get back to that momentum,” he said.
The biggest obstacle to high speed rail is Connecticut. Connecticut does not benefit from a true NYC to Boston high speed, and will insist that there be major stops in Connecticut, slowing the trains. In any case, the best proposal for high speed rail for CT bypasses New Haven and the shore and takes 87/84 to Danbury to Waterbury to Hartford to Boston.
https://www.universalhub.com/2018/time-company-proposed-fast-train-new-york-beacon
https://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/editorials/2015/11/29/connecticut-problem-with-massachusetts-rail/Ab97riUGT7W6mtWDXiiMqN/story.html