[ytlh]

I am curious to hear opinions from people on this forum regarding the upcoming Bridgeport mayoral primary. I'm a relatively new resident of Bridgeport (2 yrs) as well as Connecticut (3 yr) and don't feel as if I have much context or history from which to judge the local politics.

My perspective so far is that I live in the downtown and have observed a lot of positive changes in my immediate area during the short time I've lived here. Mayor Finch is engaged heavily in this process at least at the level of public outreach, showing up at all sorts of events. The city obviously fell on hard times many years ago, but seems to be taking steps toward reinvigorating, at least in the downtown area. I realize that this is usually a slow, long-term process and I don't have a good sense of where our current mayor fits into it. I also don't know quite what to think of his role vis a vis the clearly troubled school system.

I am hoping folks on here can give me a better perspective, or ideas of what issues to investigate further.

Thanks!

[Stylo]

I think Bridgeport has some continuing challenges to deal with. It's got a bad stigma and still has some really depressed and crime-ridden areas. People balk at living there despite there being some nice areas. The taxes are extremely high. The downtown is improving, but still doesn't have much of a pull to surrounding areas as far as nightlife, shopping, etc. There's not a lot of reasons to go into Bridgeport as an outsider. It looks bombed and gross out from 95. Etc, etc.

That said, its location on the map is great, so great leadership could turn the city around in the next few decades. Another good economic run and maybe real change will happen. I don't have any opinion on the current mayor, but he's got to be better than some of the crooks that ran the city in the past.

[Bridgeport Rising]

Lennie Grimaldis blog "onlyinbridgeport" seems to have the best coverage of local politics

[ytlh]

Thanks, Bridgeport Rising! Excellent suggestion.

[mlassoff]

I've known Bill Finch causally for 20 years. In my opinion, you couldn't find a more honest and upstanding guy. In a city with a really bad history of corruption (Ganim) and financial whoes (See Mary Moran, Bankruptcy), Finch is as clean as they come.

I am glad to hear that you are seeing improvements in the downtown area. I hope the trend continues.

[Stylo]

New Haven needs a Bill Finch.

[Bridgeport Rising]

Originally Posted by mlassoff

I've known Bill Finch causally for 20 years. In my opinion, you couldn't find a more honest and upstanding guy. In a city with a really bad history of corruption (Ganim) and financial whoes (See Mary Moran, Bankruptcy), Finch is as clean as they come.

I am glad to hear that you are seeing improvements in the downtown area. I hope the trend continues.

Im a little torn on this issue, honesty is great, but Ganim and Cianci (in Providence, RI ) while being corrupt as hell got a lot of stuff done.

Finch does seem like a nice guy, but his accomplishments are few and far between.

[ytlh]

Mlassoff, I'm very glad to hear your impression of him.

Do any of you have a sense of which projects Finch has really been pushing as mayor? Or which accomplishments folks that are disappointed were expecting to see and didn't? I guess school system improvement is an obvious one, but are there other big ones? Is it reasonable to expect a mayor to have much influence over the local school administration in Connecticut? (My experience has been that the degree of control mayors or city managers have over schools varies a lot from state to state).

[Stratford, Ct. Resident]

LOL @ all of this.


Mario Testa runs Bridgeport.

/the end.

[acebritty]

i have enjoyed my conversations with finch. i last spoke with him a couple of months ago when he attended an event held in the arcade mall. i asked about the revitalization of downtown and expressed my concern re no grocery shopping for the downtown residents. he told me a 'farmers type' store carrying local produce etc was in progress.

on another occasion he invited me to his offices after a brief, yet passionate discussion for a mtg in the hope of joining a committee decicated to progress in the park city, but alas i am not a us citizen so did not meet the criteria. on the upside being british he wanted to use my voice in an ad to promote the city.

i just moved out of bpt after 23 years but still come down at least a coupla times a week to attend events and visit family. i do miss it and still have hope it can once again become the great city it was mean't to be!!