Finch: City Is Fuel Cell Capital Of North America

With thousands of solar panels as a backdrop, Mayor Bill Finch conducted a news conference to release his plan for creating green jobs Labor Day weekend.

From the Finch campaign:

“We’ve become known as the fuel cell capital of North America,” said Mayor Finch. “Just last week, the President Obama cited us in his green energy plan, saying that Bridgeport is one of the fifteen cities in the U.S. that are leading the pack in terms of green energy.”

– Click here for more on President Obama’s Bridgeport mention: bit.ly/1XvQSRi.

“We’ve come a long way in the last eight years,” continued Mayor Finch. “We]re going to continue to identify great job creating opportunities like fuel cells for the city of Bridgeport in the future.”

U.S. Congressman Jim Himes, in regards to Mayor FInch’s plan for creating green jobs and producing clean energy, stated that it shows the incumbent will continue making smart investments in the future.

“We need strong leadership to build on the progress that we have made in Bridgeport, and Mayor Bill Finch is the right person for the job,” said Congressman Himes.

“The green jobs creation plan and clean energy initiative that he is unveiling today are examples of the smart investments and forward-looking planning that Bridgeport needs. I look forward to working with him and his team in the future to make Bridgeport an even better place to live and work.”

RESULTS TO DATE
Upon taking office in 2007, Mayor Finch’s first–and only–executive order was to launch a BGreen2020 plan, which is a roadmap for creating green jobs and producing clean energy.

As part of his plan, and with the realization that preparing the city for a more sustainable future starts with job creation, he launched a green business hub called Eco-Technology Park in Bridgeport’s long neglected West Side.

The Eco-Technology Park is now home to dozens of green businesses, such as Tri-State Biodiesel, which is under construction in this, our state’s largest city, adding even more green jobs.

Mayor Finch’s efforts at the Eco-Technology Park have resulted in hundreds of new jobs–with the potential of adding up to 750 more jobs in the near future–and more than $10 million in payroll.

As co-chair of the U.S. Conference of Mayors Climate Protection Task Force, he’s also making Bridgeport a national leader in clean energy production. The state’s largest city is now home to North America’s largest fuel cell, which powers 15,000 homes with clean energy.

And, Bridgeport will soon be home to thousands of solar panels and another fuel cell atop an old and unused landfill at Green Energy Park, which will also add millions to the tax rolls. This project alone will power an additional 5,000 homes with clean energy, and helping to reduce asthma rates.

Together, these two projects will power 20,000 households with clean energy while ensuring our kids and grandkids breathe cleaner air.

THE FUTURE
Mayor Finch has a five-pronged plan to create jobs and produce clean energy in the future, including:
– Readying Eco-Technology Park for more development: Eco-Technology Park is already home to dozens of green businesses, such as Tri-State Biodiesel, and has been recognized as a national model for green job creation and sustainable development. Moving forward, we will complete the Municipal Plan Development process for the Eco-Technology Park, support businesses already committed to Eco-Technology Park, and identify new clean sites and make underutilized sites available for new business development so we can bring more green jobs to the Park City.

– Recruiting new, and expanding existing, green businesses: Mayor Finch will develop an aggressive green business recruitment and marketing plan to complement our existing green businesses. The city will also partner with local and state universities on the development and attraction of new green businesses, and leverage their expertise to better identify emerging leaders in sectors like energy efficiency technologies and service providers, recycling and reuse technologies, green product manufacturers, green service providers, and green lighting manufacturers and installers.

– Helping green entrepreneurs access capital: The best way to help small businesses grow is to help them access capital. To do that, we will create a $1 million Revolving Loan Fund to help entrepreneurs get flexible financing for machinery and equipment acquisitions and working capital needs. We’ll also partner with the Federal Economic Development Administration and the State Department of Economic & Community Development to provide seed funding for eco-businesses.

– Identifying locations for clean energy production: As we continue to expand Eco-Technology Park, we must identify and prepare more sites for green business development. To facilitate that work, we plan to create a $3-4 million Dedicated Brownfields Assessment and Remediation Fund to fast-track the clean-up of environmentally impaired sites, many of which discourage private investment. Such a fund, supported with EPA and State DECD funding, would result in new developments on brownfields, adding millions of dollars of private investment and hundreds of jobs for the state’s largest city.

– Bolstering public/private, state, and federal government partnerships: Bridgeport’s successful rise to national leader in green technology has benefitted from the strong support of public and private partnerships. In the next term, we plan to expand those relationships to leverage local, state, and federal dollars for infrastructure and utility improvements, signage and landscaping amenities, resiliency measures to protect the Eco-Technology Park against major storm events, and seed funding or financing for new and existing green businesses.

Click here to read Mayor Bill Finch’s plan: bit.ly/1LRkceH.

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30 comments

  1. This is the kind of cutting edge development that will transform the gritty city image. Fuel cell technology and Green technology resonate with younger, educated, forward-thinking individuals.

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    1. Big wow. Why has Finch not done anything about all the brownfields in Bridgeport? Those properties, contaminated by industrial chemicals, are detrimental to the health and physical well-being of residents. Oh right, he’s going to build water parks and high schools on them.

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      1. Actually Bridgeport Kid, Mayor Finch is working with city, state and developers regarding brownfields. This is not a new concept. Not going fast enough for you or were you unaware the Finch administration has and is currently addressing the city’s brownfields?

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        1. The mayor has had eight years to do something. No, he is not fast enough, for me or anyone else. How many more abandoned factories need to burn before David Kooris stops making excuses about red tape and bureaucracy?

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          1. Kid, Ganim was mayor for 12 years, did you want to acknowledge his contribution to cleaning up brownfields?

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          2. This isn’t about Joe vs. Bill. NEITHER OF THEM DID MUCH OF ANYTHING ABOUT THE BROWNFIELDS. The problem still exists. At this point I’m sick to death of hearing you rant on and on and on about Joe Ganim. He fucked up, move on. Bill Finch fucked up, move on. I don’t give a rat’s ass about the primary anymore and haven’t for a while. The brownfields need to be cleaned up. Whoever did nothing about it is beside the point. The brownfields have existed for decades. The pollution needs to be cleaned up or Bridgeport taxpayers are going to be paying to settle civil lawsuits for decades to come.

            I’m talking about a serious environmental issue. Why is everything all about Joe Ganim or Bill Finch to you? Stay on point for once. People might actually respect your opinion.

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  2. Still waiting to see the list of employers and the number of people they are employing at their Bridgeport facilities. Is it on the taxpayer-funded Bridgeport getting better website? I can’t find it.
    Steve, do you have the list?

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    1. Tom, I always keep these lists. I have it somewhere but too exhausted to find it. Do Fuel Cells and Green Technology scare you? Does being ahead of the curve in the 21st century make you nervous as a Republican? Do you believe the earth is still flat? People on this blog who have been satisfied with scandals, conflicts and mediocrity just cannot stand the base hits that will make Bridgeport a leader in the coming years.

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  3. BFD. They weren’t manufactured in Bridgeport; they occupy significant industrial space that could be used for higher-value, higher-employment purposes; they don’t lower our absurdly-high electricity rates; they don’t provide significant employment.

    They do serve the energy needs of our outlying economic competitors, as well as allowing them to avoid the ugly, devaluing, obtrusive infrastructure associated with these power plants, providing more land for high-value, high-employment tax base for the suburbs. (Norwalk is tearing down a recently decommissioned waterfront power plant to make space for high-value development. Guess who picked up the regional slack w.r.t. regional energy needs?)

    And they do contribute to pollution and greenhouse gases by virtue of their fuel needs, fuel use, and maintenance/service requirements.

    Again, only in Bridgeport would our mayor hype a negative as a positive.

    Maybe the suburbs are impressed by this BS, but Bridgeport voters are turned off by the jamming of more power plants for the suburbs in our city.

    (Give us your garbage, your sewage, your social-service needs. And please, take our development and tax base. We enjoy being poor and dumped-on by the affluent. The Finch Administration’s new motto for Bridgeport.)

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    1. To your point about manufacturing, this Denmark company found it was more cost effective to open manufacturing plants in the U.S. as opposed to shipping the finished product here. It is reported these factories have about two years of orders on the books. If CT were more business friendly, and Bridgeport having the trifecta of rail, road and water shipping, this is the type of manufacturing our Green Mayor should be bringing to our city.
      www .bizjournals.com/denver/blog/earth_to_power/2015/04/colorado-no-1-for-wind-energy-manufacturing-jobs.html

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  4. The number-one written giveaway of the amount of “nervousness” or a psychological attempt by the writer to convince himself of the validity of his or her own written word is the use of the acronym LOL. Or Lolololololololololo. Did you know that?

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        1. I think Lydia Martinez has every right to run for the office of her choice. If you do not support her, do not vote for her. I have been acquainted with Lydia Martinez since the Moran days. These days I know her to be an activist in the Spanish community. I know she gives of her own time to read to students in the Bridgeport public schools. I know she is running on the ticket of Bill Finch, and Wicca, yes I will support her candidacy and she will definitely have my vote. While stumping for Mayor Finch I am supporting his entire ticket.

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        2. Martinez has been nabbed and fined for AB fraud. Twice. That in and of itself makes her a TERRIBLE choice for the Finch ticket. He would have been much better off not running anyone. She held him hostage to her fraudulent AB operation and he caved. You may think these practices are fine, but speaking only for myself (you should try that), I do not. That is what happened and it’s just about as shady as shady gets.

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        3. Wicca, get real. Joe Ganim is beating Mary-Jane Foster 3 to 1 and he was in jail for seven years and it took 10 years to apologize and honest to G-d Wicca, you are talking about Lydia Martinez? Remember when Foster was running four years ago she had Coviello, Tito Ayala and Joel Gonzalez on her ticket? All nice people, I am not judging!

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  5. Steve, what does Bill Finch have to do with this fuel cell facility? It is where it is because it feeds into the electrical grid. Bill Finch just happens to be mayor. Employment is a measure of the benefit of a facility. Finch’s campaign, or is it the mayor’s office, claims his administration has increased employment. It would be reasonable to see some facts to back his claims. Why don’t you give him a call and get that list? Any progress in having Stratford Avenue renamed Yellow Brick Road?

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    1. Tom, why don’t you give him a call and get the list? You will have at least four more years to get it, there is no rush from where I am sitting nor am I the one who needs to supply an anti-Finch blogger any information. I am certain you know where to go for the information and when you find it I am certain you will share. Perhaps with Rick Torres.

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  6. Another reason to get two minutes in front of the camera. Fuel cells today, new Obama high school yesterday, Bass Pro Shops last week, Chipotle the week before.
    Mayor Idiot, do you think anyone cares about fuel cell energy at this point?

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  7. Jennifer: Great info and great points! Please continue to educate the naysayers who would have us assume manufacturing and living-wage jobs can never return to Bridgeport. Uplifting information, indeed!

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