Economic Development Director David Kooris who helped guide construction of the Steel Point redevelopment area of the East Side and shepherded millions in state and federal grants for a new East Side train station and flood control for neighborhoods has issued his resignation letter to the city for a job in state government managing a federally funded project addressing shoreline infrastructure improvements including Bridgeport. Kooris is expected to remain on the city job for another four weeks.
“It was a real pleasure to work with David, he is a talented and bright individual who has accomplished a great deal and brought a lot of investment and creativity into our city,” said Mayor Joe Ganim in a statement. “I am sorry to see him go, but David won’t be very far away and he will still be heavily involved in the future of Bridgeport in his new role. We all wish him well and in fact we look forward to working with him; I have offered David office space in city hall if it would help him complete his new mission.
“Obviously we are still going through a transition process, and the director of the Office of Planning and Economic Development is a very critical position for our city that we will need to fill with a qualified, visionary person. We will be consulting with our business community and eager to get their input on who will best attract more business and economic development to Bridgeport.”
Kooris, well liked in the business community, is considered among former Mayor Bill Finch’s top hires. He joined the city in the summer of 2012 just in time for Finch to announce Bass Pro would serve as the anchor tenant for Steel Point. But at that point there was still a lot of work to do to make it happen and Kooris served as a key city bridge between the developer and state and federal funding infrastructure improvements.
Kooris is also credited with securing on behalf of the city a major federal grant to assist with flood control in the South End.
Kooris is among the last holdovers from Finch more than three months into the Ganim administration.
*** GOOD RIDDANCE! ***
Amen!!!!!!!!!
Best news Bridgeport’s had since the election.
Congratulations and good luck. Thank you for serving the city and doing an excellent job. The city of Bridgeport has been the beneficiary of serious investment dollars thanks to David Kooris.
I was hoping one of you clowns would tell me who is that photo-bomber with the pink shirt and dark shades.
Mojo and Mr. Ron–I am curious about your response. Most people I know on both sides of the aisle thought Kooris was an asset to the city. Granted while he was on the city council in Stamford that was an issue for most people. Would you be so kind as to share why you are glad to see him go?
Jennifer, first the new train station we don’t need that does nothing to help the residents on the East Side, the minimum wage jobs and not maximizing the waterfront property.
The train station is a huge economic boon to the area and will change the area forever, bringing life, business and development. Mackey, you just want the largest city in the state in the wealthiest county to remain a poor derelict city. Good thing the new Mayor understands the value of the train and the future of the city. Maybe a few of your friends will not benefit, but the bulk of the neighborhood, business and residential will benefit! Thank you Mayor Finch, David Kooris and Mayor Ganim for acknowledging the obvious. Bad answer, Mackey. Very bad answer.
Tell me what benefits the unemployed or those who live in the East Side will get with the train station? How many permanent jobs will those residents receive, will that train station help the local businesses in that area? Those commuters will drive to and park their vehicle for the day then come back and drive back out of town where they live and not spend one penny in that district, so how does that help the residents of the East End?
Ron, you will never be accused of being a visionary or a problem solver. I am not going to get on my soapbox to explain the obvious. Suffice it to say I thought Kooris was one of Finch’s best appointments after that very very bad development director who preceded Kooris. Ganim was wise to keep him on and it is a loss to the city. Mackey, that of course is my opinion as well as the opinion of most respected business people in the area including Nancy Hadley the former economic development director. I wish Mayor Ganim well in finding a replacement.
Ron, if it were a train station Steve’s argument would have merit. As it is going to be nothing more than a huge PARKING LOT and train STOP, you are correct.
Hector, thanks, I should have made that point clearer, those commuters will be in and out and no way will they venture anywhere in that area to buy even a bottle of water. That train stop will do nothing to help the economy of the East Side, nothing.
The train station is a huge economic boon for only one person and that’s Sal DiNardo!
Thanks to Mr. Kooris, Sal DiNardo will walk away with not paying his back taxes in the amount of $10 million he owed to the City for over a decade, in exchange for five acres of land and reduction in his back taxes to $315k only that’s if the Federal bankruptcy courts will accept the Kooris/DiNardo plan?
Kooris lied when he told the City Council Remington was going to be tied up in court for years to come, knowing clearly Remington/DiNardo was on the verge of losing everything in Federal Bankruptcy Court.
DiNardo ran out of time on Remington through the court system and the city/Kooris/Finch stepped in again to bail him out.
I’m betting dollars to donuts DiNardo never pays that $315k in back taxes.
So how does a train station on the outskirts of the city help Main St., the Ballpark, Bass Pro, and the banks and other businesses?
Unless you’re building a City within a City?
There was no chance David would stay on and work in a corrupt administration. I’m glad he landed in a position where he’s still able to help shape a significant piece of Bridgeport’s future–the shoreline–but this City’s future was much brighter with him on its side, and this is a big loss for us.
It will be interesting to see who Mr. Ganim considers to be “the qualified, visionary person” right to fill one of the City’s most vital positions. Judging from his short track record, I have little faith he knows anybody who’s qualified or visionary.
The only real issues I saw with Kooris is the City Council seat in Stamford and Stamford residency. The latter can be bartered off against his job proficiency. He was good at what he did and made few to no politically moronic statements. All would be wise to remember the recent mess he found himself in the thick of was brought on by Finch/Nunn. Good luck to Mr. Kooris. Good luck to the Ganim administration finding a replacement!
I agree with everyone who is questioning what the Ganim Admin is going to do. Maybe AJ’s brother will get the Police Union’s backing.
I think it is a loss for the city. I definitely support the East Side Railroad Station and I think the new train station will have a huge impact on the East Side. He did his job well so the Stamford issue is a non-issue. Ganim will probably hire some patsy puppet. That’s all he is capable of doing.
Everyone who is against the new railroad station, what would you like to see there? For too many years the old Remington buildings have been eyesores, vacant and producing nothing, not even taxes. Ron, I hate to tell you but most of the East Side is owned by out-of-towners. You say for the residents of the East Side. Well as you know there are more people in the city than those on the East Side. If there were any prospect at all of development other than the train station I would be for it. In all my years in the city after Remington closed nothing happened.
Andy, great point!
Yes, a lot of the East Side is owned by those who don’t live here but those who do live there pay rent there. One thing that will happen around that train stop is there will be a police presence during the train arrivals and departures, hopefully the police will venture around the entire district.
Andy, I’m not sure, but would the new train stop be paying taxes or contributing to our budget? Just a question. I’m not sure how that revenue if any works for us as a City.
Not all of them but there are many who hang around all day and all night and those who don’t work. I know and you should know there are many, many hard-working people on the East Side. Most training programs for the trades are five years in duration. The apprentice gets a graduated scale until he/she reaches journeyman.
The taxes would be paid under the PILOT program.
The people who will be using that station will be contributing by paying taxes and contributing to an economic recovery of the East Side. There are other factors that need to be looked at on the East Side. Rehabbing the housing inventory would be key and with a train station in close proximity we would very possibly see some investment in the housing and building infrastructure of the East Side. This view of looking at everything and anything as whether it is paying taxes or contributing to the budget is an erroneous perspective. If this view were correct we should close both hospitals, close schools, sell off City Parks, close firehouses and minimize police, shut WPCA facilities etc. So this view of whether or not a train station would be paying taxes is WRONG.
Mr. Gyure, I would argue with no ticket office and the tickets being purchased on board or through electronic terminals, we wouldn’t receive a spent nickel of the ticket sales. Now revenue can be made through the Parking if the City doesn’t give that away (hint).
Hector, the fact of the matter is this is how technology works. You can even buy Metro North tickets from your computer at home or even from your smartphone. New train stations need to be low maintenance. But the BIG question is Who is going to use the East Side train station. The huge majority will be people who live on the East Side. People will want to live near the train station. Apartments will be fixed or built with proximity to the train station as a selling point. It’s not the money being spent on the the actual property of the train station but it’s the money that will be spent in the area around the train station. Look at EVERY SINGLE train station on Metro North. There is always good economic activity around the train stations. This is a long-term project. The East Side needs a lot more help than just a train station BUT the train station will be a part of the economic redevelopment of the East Side.
Ron really, now are you saying the police are not patrolling or patrolling on a limited basis on the East Side? Look, basically if we can bring something new to Bpt and it has to stop somewhere then the harsh rule is fuck the tenants. We can bring all the jobs you can think of but with 60% to 80% of the young working-age population uneducated, employers will be forced to go outside of Bridgeport.
A local contractor hired locals to work on the Central gym the workers showed up with all brand-new tools which is an indicator of no experience. When they were done with the gym another contractor needed to be called to fix all the mistakes. Ron, do you think it’s time for the tenants on the East Side to get off their collective asses?
There is a system in the workforce called training programs to prepare those who want to work to gain the work skills needed to perform the task. Andy you asked me, “do you think it’s time for the tenants on the East Side to get off their collective asses?” So that’s what you think about those residents?
How much economic impact did the new stations in Fairfield and West Haven have? Next to none.
Phil Smith, I usually agree with you but you are ABSOLUTELY wrong with the impact of the Fairfield Metro Station upon Black Rock. I know because I use that station every single day. There are both drivers and MANY walkers from Black Rock who use that station. I also go to the Black Rock NRZ meetings and the Fairfield Metro station is key to many future developments. The Bridgeport Showcase theatres are planned to close and townhouses are being planned for that spot. The effect will be long-term and positive. I am really surprised you don’t see the long-term benefits.
Thank you Phil, my question exactly.
And forget West Haven. FAIRFIELD is a more desirable area, in the Bridgeport market, and nothing.
This was just another bailout of Sal DiNardo costing taxpayers $10,000,000. Good job, Dave. Good job, Bill. Good job, Sal.
I’m sorry but I disagree with this assessment of the long-term view of the impact of the Fairfield Metro Station upon Black Rock. EVERY Real ESTATE POSTING cites proximity to the station as a benefit. I use Fairfield Metro every day and I see the cars and pedestrians that use Fairfield Metro. Please try to use a little foresight and and the impact is long term, possibly even beyond our own lifetimes.
This is from the Connecticut Post and it’s one of the reasons why Economic Development Director David Kooris, Mayor Bill Finch and Gov. Dannel P. Malloy were failures.
Conn. black jobless rate among highest
By Alexander Soule
Updated 7:11 am, Tuesday, March 8, 2016
Connecticut had the fourth highest rate of African-American unemployment among states nationally, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, while ranking 32nd for joblessness across all sectors of the population.
Connecticut’s black unemployment was 13.3 percent in December 2015, with Iowa having the worst rate in the nation at 14.8 percent followed by Minnesota, Nevada and the District of Columbia.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics calculated Connecticut’s overall unemployment rate at 5.4 percent in December, ranking the state 32nd nationally and alongside Rhode Island for the highest rate in the Northeast.
EVERY SINGLE TRAIN STATION on Metro North is a benefit to the community. I am surprised at the myopic perspectives that have been exhibited here. I am trying to remember and it may require some research but I do not believe a MetroNorth/New Haven Line station has ever been closed. I believe there are plans for another Stamford train station.
Ever been to Greens Farms?
I pass through Greens Farms EVERY SINGLE DAY. That is pretty prime real estate and people are getting off and on every single train stop. Metro North is really becoming like a subway for ALL of Fairfield County.
Greens Farms is one of TWO train stations in Westport. Yet here are people who are saying the largest city in Fairfield County should have only one. Those who oppose the Barnum Station are looking into the PAST with no sense of the multi-transportation FUTURE of Fairfield and New Haven Counties
Frank Gyure, this is the start of gentrification for the East Side.
Frank Gyure, what benefit to the community? There is no money going into this community, no jobs from this project, the residents will not be using the station in fact those using it will come from other cities and towns. Where is the money coming from?
Ron Mackey, millions of dollars are being proposed to be poured into the East Side. WHO will be using the train station? Are you telling me people from Trumbull, from Stratford, from East Haven will be driving miles to use this station? GIVE ME A BREAK!!! I have been using Metro North for a solid 20 years. I have seen the changes in the demographics of where and when people get off at each of the various train stations. Like I have said on another comment, we have to change our mindset about Metro North. Maybe through the 1980s it was still a primary means of people going to work in Manhattan. Then it changed by 2000 so people were using it to go to work in Stamford. TODAY, I see people getting off and on at EVERY SINGLE STOP on the line. There is also a reverse commute where people are coming into work into Connecticut from Westchester county going to work in Stamford, in Greenwich and now Norwalk is becoming a job destination point. THIS IS ALL ABOUT CHANGE and change that takes decades to happen. TRAIN STATIONS ARE GOOD.
I have a feeling the unemployment rate amongst African Americans is higher than average in all the Northeastern and Rust Belt states. There are a lot of factors for this with racism being a large part of it. The question is HOW DO WE FIX IT? One of the key ways is multiple means of transportation to get to jobs.
And the icing on the cake to prove my point about how silly Barnum Junction is, is Stevie A thinks it is genius, pure genius.
Case closed.
And Phil, sometimes you don’t need to look any further than your own backyard to see how much development a train station brings. How’s that new one downtown working out? Not too good.
We were told how great it would be. Picture the commuters walking out of the station through the new parking facility into a mini Grand Central built out of one of the bank buildings downtown. What up with that?
Couldn’t quite work out the funding on that baby either. Took too many shortcuts on the new bus terminal that turned out to be nothing but a big-ass bus stop with a semi-enclosed walkway to the train station no one uses.
Genius, I tell you. Simply genius.
Okay, let’s not do anything with this property ever. Let’s erect a large computerized sign that says Bridgeport has been screwed by a local contractor who formerly owned this property. We are going to leave this property as it is and use it as a testament to all the assholes who governed Bridgeport while this complex was vacant.
Let’s erect a second sign that states nothing will be built here because it may upset the renters on the East Side.
At night we can have large lights that spell out Bridgeport’s Folly. You people are amazingly stupid.
Sounds as good as a plan for a railroad junction that will never be built. And Andy, guess what? There aren’t going to be any bullet trains stopping but maybe trains stopping bullets.
Bob, you don’t know about the bullet train. As it is now it can’t stop in Bridgeport’s present station because of a curve. It will be able to stop if there were a new station.
*** In time the “train stop,” not a station, would be a magnet for trespassers and panhandlers hanging around on and off like they do downtown. The trip from the East Side to the downtown station is not very far; also I don’t anticipate a very large group of train riders coming from or to the East Side of Bpt. However, the fact that long-term train station vehicle parking is so expensive and limited with a waiting list may be a blessing to regular train riders! But the overall expectation a new train stop will make a large business difference on the East Side is quite a trailblazing venture to say the least. The entire East Side (East Main St.) would need a complete business changeover and facelift with lots of business money investments and investors willing to stick it out in the ‘hood during the good and the bad times ahead! Also many of the business ventures that were brought to Bpt by David Kooris are no longer here in Bpt. Oh let’s not forget to give credit for the ex-brownfields that are now new ‘hood playgrounds in the city, no? And the big Kahuna of them all, “Bass Pro Shops,” the fishermen, hunters, campers, small boaters, hikers, outdoor persons, “‘HOOD” Taj Mahal.*** WHOOP ***
THERE WILL BE NO TRAIN STATION OR STOP IN BRIDGEPORT. THERE IS NO MONEY LEFT. SO LET’S STOP KIDDING OURSELVES. JUST SAYING.
Again, New Haven in spite of its own politics and problems, is able to do the State Street Platform that has spurred tremendous TOD but the small-mindedness of Bridgeport politicians prevents us from getting things like this, not even an Amtrak stop in the State’s largest city. A no-brainer, a lot of land availability there, not like other places. And what are they thinking about the Shot Tower and the structurally sound administrative buildings of Remington? I know Kooris tore down the Power House recently, quietly and secretly that had very valuable old brickwork and arcuated fenestration. But none of this matters. What matters is there is big grant money already there for soft costs and planning that will go into the right pockets. And Sal gets bailed out to boot. By the way, this site looks bad for the City. Anyone even notice?
The power house has been abandoned for years and not a peep from anyone including you Bob about arcuated fenestration or anything else of significant value. Are you going to tell me the square multi-story former office building has significant historic value? Really???
The powerhouse would have been to die for anywhere else. I’m surprised at Kooris. He probably had $ he HAD to spend.
What would the city do with this structure?
What they did with the powerhouse at Warnaco, residential?
Ohh for chrissakes, just tear it down and get rid of it. Bunch of old bricks.
The powerhouse at Warnaco is not next to busy railroad tracks.
Hahahaha, you got to be kidding. Right?
Kidding? No, I am not kidding. Your proposed use of this derelict powerhouse is the joke of this topic. Tell me, who would rent an apartment or buy a condo in such a building?
Kooris getting a job under the $10 million South End Planning Grant that protects it from flooding. Same guy who championed the proposal to install inappropriate high-density pork barrel housing project at lowest point of the Arnisin Basin in the place of a 35-year-old community garden and Diane Taurasi Kaboom Playground (developments that absorb water and don’t create runoff)! Good Luck David.
Oh ye of little faith and even less vision. If you’d stop bickering and start poking around the country, you’d notice the hottest and most successful urban planning paradigm these days is “transit-oriented development.”
The concept has its own research institute, which has a web page full of sample projects you can study:
www .tod.org/projects.html
Will it work? The best example is Assembly Square in Somerville, Mass., on the eastern border of that city right next door to Everett along the Mystic River. The site is the former home of a Ford Motor Co. assembly plant, hence the name of the development. Vacant just a few years ago, it now sports a brand-new MBTA transit station and a brand-new neighborhood of shops, entertainment, residences and parking.
The key was the new station. And vision. We’re getting the station. Can’t anyone on OIB buy into the vision?
Well, the station, the vision, and investment. I’m not naive enough to forget the $$$.
“Transit-oriented development” is not a new concept, it has been a tool for development since distal groups of humans discovered survival/economic advantages garnered through the facilitation of contact/trade with each other. (Railroads allowed the vast empty stretches of our 19th Century, land-locked western region to become “productive,” as it were.)
But like all human endeavors, the enhanced ability to move humans/materials between various points can have positive, negative or mixed effects for those involved, depending on how the situation is conceived and manipulated.
In the world of Bridgeport CT and other “post-industrial” cities, “transit oriented development” has become nothing more than a euphemism for the exploitation of distressed municipalities by wealthy municipalities/regions.
What has downtown, transit-oriented development done for the tax base of Bridgeport or living-wage jobs availability for Bridgeporters? Did we need a second train station to attain our industrial zenith? Can anyone describe any significant tax base/living-wage job creation effects the new East Side train station will entail for Bridgeport? Isn’t the new development proposed around that train station tax-exempt housing that will cost Bridgeport taxpayers a lot of money, over several decades, to sustain? Where are the jobs? This tax-exempt train station and low/modest income housing is going to be a boon for Bridgeport? This is “visionary” development?! (Since this train station was proposed/hyped by STAMFORD’S Dan Malloy and his blatantly placed Bridgeport mole, David Kooris, it should have been suspect automatically.)
This whole “transit-oriented development” fad is BS. Anyone who has been around Bridgeport since the mid-’70s knows any development in Bridgeport is being planned to accommodate the prosperity and lifestyle of the Gold Coast at Bridgeport’s expense.
This new train station is being built, in conjunction with the Seaview Avenue Corridor Project, to funnel high-end suburban workers, as well as a few low-wage Bridgeporters, to the Gold Coast. A four-lane connector is planned between Route 8 and I-95, via Remington Woods/Lake Success, to funnel suburbanites from this new connector right to the train station. This project is just one more step in the sowing of Bridgeport’s economic fields with salt by those seeking to sustain the privileged lifestyle of the Gold Coast with Bridgeport labor. Instead of high-value tax base, good manufacturing jobs for this land, we are allowing our development prerogatives to be usurped by down-county interests.
In the grand scheme of things, sound transportation/economic development planning has jobs being developed around existing workforce housing, or the converse. It is absurd and unsustainable to daily shift whole workforce populations long distances back and forth between housing and labor markets, as is being done in Fairfield County. Hence our gridlock/transportation woes and our shrinking regional economic development/jobs base. GE didn’t leave because they couldn’t locate talent or negotiate tax breaks. They left because they saw regional development policy on Southwestern Connecticut is economically suicidal and can’t be rendered rational by wider highways or more train stations.
Wake up, Bridgeport! (Glad to see you moving on, David. Good luck!)