Facing years of projected state budget deficits, could a move toward metropolitan regions help save money and spur economic development, as advocates claim? What would a major step look like? And could any effort succeed against Connecticut’s long devotion to localism. First of three articles.
Tom Condon
Tom writes about urban and regional issues for CT Mirror, including planning, transportation, land use, development and historic preservation. These were among his areas of interest in a 45-year career as a reporter, columnist and editorial writer for The Hartford Courant. Tom has won dozens of journalism and civic awards, and was elected to the New England Newspaper Hall of Fame in 2016. He is a native of New London, a graduate of The University of Notre Dame and the University of Connecticut School of Law, and is a Vietnam veteran.
Posted inJustice
Bloody murder: Were teens wrongly convicted?
Shawn Henning and Ralph “Ricky” Birch, have been locked up since 1989 for a gruesome 1985 murder in New Milford they steadfastly insist they didn’t commit. The state’s case, never airtight to begin with, has diminished over the years as two prosecution witnesses have recanted, key defense testimony was uncovered, and DNA testing put an unknown person at the scene. Nonetheless, a state judge turned down their petition for a new trial last year, leaving the two with a slim chance of freedom.
Posted inCities & Towns
In Meriden, there is action near the station as development ramps up
Officials hope the trend toward transit-oriented development, or TOD, will lessen traffic congestion, reduce pollution and create dense and lively town centers that can attract bright young workers – the ones the General Electrics and Aetnas say they want.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Living within walking distance — important for a great neighborhood
We were looking for a house in West Hartford a quarter century ago, and were surprised to learn that houses closer to the town center were generally less expensive that houses further away. This made no sense to me. I could leave the car in the driveway, walk to stores, restaurants, town hall, gym, library, etc., and enjoy the safety that comes with other people walking by, and pay less? Where do I sign? Indeed, we bought a house in West Hartford Center. For the only time in my life, I was ahead of a trend. People are moving back to city and town centers. Pedestrian proximity is essential; a pillar of a great neighborhood. That’s the thesis of an intriguing new book, “Within Walking Distance: Creating Livable Communities for All,” by New Haven-based writer Philip Langdon.
Posted inCities & Towns
Danbury, now hatless, gets a second wind
Danbury – once the Hat City – has parlayed a good location, population growth, a history of economic development efforts, a sturdy tax base and generally efficient administration into a city that is farther along in reinventing itself than a number of other Connecticut cities once dominated by single industries.
Posted inMoney
For Hartford, bankruptcy not an easy way out
At a May 22 town hall meeting on Hartford’s dire budget situation, a resident urged Mayor Luke Bronin not to file for bankruptcy, saying it would be a “death knell” for the city. Would it?
Posted inHousing
Housing shift: More apartments, fewer McMansions
The market is changing. Families are smaller. Young people are happy, at least for a time, to rent an apartment in a walkable, interesting city or town center. Many Boomers are looking to downsize. And for a quarter century, state officials have been trying to inject more affordable housing into more communities.
Posted inCities & Towns
Has regionalism’s time finally come?
While autonomous municipal government — home rule — is the norm and likely to remain so, regional cooperation has been inching ahead. Now with the state and several large cities facing severe fiscal challenges, mayors such as Hartford’s Luke Bronin and others, including the state’s major municipal advocacy group, are pushing for more regional sharing.
Posted inMoney
Plan for XL Center to test value of entertainment
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy is backing $250 million in bonding to make the aged XL Center in Hartford “look and feel like an entirely new building.” Intended primarily as a venue for UConn sports, chatter about the possibility of the return of major league hockey picked up last week when Malloy and Mayor Luke Bronin issued a long-shot invitation to the NHL’s New York Islanders to play there. Whether the transformation moves ahead is now up to the General Assembly.
Posted inCities & Towns
Little Derby has a big plan
In 2003 the city demolished a row of 19th century brick buildings along Main Street to make way for a major development that never happened, leaving a vacant 19-acre site with little more than a rusting grain elevator. Now city officials hope to create a new neighborhood “that will put Derby on the map.”
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Book review: A big favor for criminal justice in Connecticut
History rarely bothers with prisons. Famous crimes get plenty of coverage, but not their aftermath. If a notorious defendant is sent off to the pokey, he, like his fellow inmates, is soon out of sight and mind. And yet, the treatment of crime and criminals is a vastly important and complex issue, at the core of societal values and beliefs, a test Winston Churchill said, of a country’s civilization. It also represents massive expense. Gordon S. Bates has done Connecticut a big favor by holding a mirror up to the state’s criminal justice history.
Posted inCities & Towns, Energy & Environment, Transportation
Movement to complete state’s trails gaining momentum
For more than two decades, most of the new multi-use trails built in the state were almost entirely the work of local volunteers. In the past five years, however, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy and his transportation commissioner, James Redeker, have turned that narrative on its head. The state is now including non-motorized trails in its planning efforts and making major investments in them.
Posted inCities & Towns
Bottling plant a wake-up call on state water
For decades, Connecticut residents have taken water for granted. But approval of a water bottling plant in Bloomfield, the coming of the state’s worst drought since the 1960s, and several other water controversies in recent years have put the spotlight on both the state’s lack of an overall water plan and questions about the transparency and accountability of the Metropolitan District Commission, the Hartford region’s big water and sewer agency.
Posted inTransportation
Larson’s tunnels: Big plan, even bigger challenge
Congressman John Larson’s proposal to build massive highway tunnels under Hartford is breathtaking in scope. It has stirred the blood of some public officials and business leaders. But the concept is so vast, complex and potentially expensive that many doubt it can be realized.
Posted inNews
Mill revivals could choke on their own success
In towns all over Connecticut there is such interest in revitalizing historic industrial properties that the movement could be stalled by its own success. All of the fiscal 2017 tax credits under the state historic rehabilitation tax credit program, a key part of the financing of many mill projects, were claimed in the first quarter of the fiscal year.