Hartford's Renaissance (Bristol, Glastonbury, Newington: real estate, transplants, income)

[Lincolnian]

Hello to all my fellow Connecticut natives and transplants who remember the Hartford of old. What do we need to do to re-spark the renaissance?

The riverfront project is all well and good but how do we solve the growing violent crime problem that scares the good people of the surrounding area away like the plague and the abysmal education problem and entrenched poverty that keeps the city from attracting a greater diversity of residents?

[JViello]

A society is reflective of it's citizens and I believe no government "project" will change that in Hartford. If anything it's what got it where it is IMO.

The ONLY thing I think that will make a major impact on Hartford is regionalization so people outside the borders have say in matters that affect the city. Which really is just expanding the citizen base to be more "diverse" than what it is inside the Hartford borders.

[JayCT]

I do not see how regionalization will solve the problems in Hartford. It would only dillute them but hte problems will still be there. Lets face it, government can not solve these problems only real social change will and that can only happen from within the community. JMHO Jay

[skytrekker]

Social and urban problems are not new to Hartford or the nation. Greater Hartford's rather parochial view of single town rule is in fact a hindrance to progress.

Regionalism may become the only way to save costs in the future and lower taxes. Several towns in New Jersey are currently consolidating Police, Fire and educational services to save money and lower high local taxes.

[JViello]

Originally Posted by skytrekker

Social and urban problems are not new to Hartford or the nation. Greater Hartford's rather parochial view of single town rule is in fact a hindrance to progress.

Regionalism may become the only way to save costs in the future and lower taxes. Several towns in New Jersey are currently consolidating Police, Fire and educational services to save money and lower high local taxes.

Totally agreed.

Moreover and to simply be realistic Hartford's politics are very small minded in scope. The reason I think they are is reflective of it's citizens. Lets get realisitic and at least admit most folks in Hartford are "lower" income folks who live paycheck to paycheck and are more worried about the stack of bills on the table then how Hartford's economic situation looks to a potential investor/company in Germany looking to expand into the US Aerospace market. Nothing wrong with those folks being where they are, and it's not a slam...it's just reality.

Now imagine for a minute if you expand the influence of Hartford's political scene to include Corporate executives in Avon/Farmington having influence on elections and commitee's...upper middle class folks with graduate degrees living in Glastonbury voting on buget issues...regular middle class folks from Newington having a say on the parking authority etc.

You sure as heck would have a different political structure in Hartford and MUCH more accountability if that was the case, and Hartford - like it or not, is the hub that holds the region together.

That is an example of why I am for regionalization...not simply for the tax savings, although I do think that is a significant issue as well.

[JayCT]

Originally Posted by JViello

You sure as heck would have a different political structure in Hartford and MUCH more accountability if that was the case, and Hartford - like it or not, is the hub that holds the region together.

I disagree, there would be significantly less accountability. Larger governments do not work well and serve the public poorly. JMHO, Jay

[JViello]

Originally Posted by JayCT

I disagree, there would be significantly less accountability. Larger governments do not work well and serve the public poorly. JMHO, Jay

Jay I think you are not getting my point. I'm not talking about "larger governments". (But to split hairs it would be REDUCING the size of government not increasing it) I'm talking about the political structure being held to accountability by a wider citizen base.

You honestly mean to tell me all the parking authority BS, all the neighborhood chatter and all the rest of the political BULL that goes on in what is a major city would still be there if there were people like I mentioned pulling a voting lever?

I think having regional input on city elections would change the face of the structure...for the good.

[JayCT]

Of course the government would get larger. Instead of several smaller governing bodies you would have one larger one. Tell me how that could be more accountable. Right now I can email any of my local officals or town employees and get a response within a day. In a regionalized government all of the 1 million or so people in the metro area would be doing the same thing. You would need a lot of people to respond to the concerns of a large metro area. I just don't see it working. Jay

[skytrekker]

The consolidation of some services like Police, Fire and to a lessor degree Education would save money. Taxes would be reduced for real estate. Why have duplicates of fire, police departments and education administrations? More buildings to maintain etc.

On of the greatest problems Connecticut faces are lowering local tax burdens. I do not see a new approach of some type of consolidation as 'more government' but perhaps a solution to solving the problems we currently have.

Town rule in Connecticut is over 350 years old. But it seems to be creaking with age. We do have regional courts- for instance Tolland county has the Rockville Court, which serves The county- this seems to work without a problem, as it does statewide.

[Lincolnian]

Rationalization make a lot of sense in terms of education. There is a lot duplicity in many areas yet very few varieties of programs outside of the magnet/charter school capital city.

Here in Bristol we have very few alternative programs for a city of our size. It's too expensive to have a multiprogram system. However, rationalization allows this to be possible due to the larger scale.

Some communities have locally-controlled elementary programs and regionalized middle and/or high school programs. We should at least explore the options.