Modern Plastics: Business Retention As A Campaign Issue, Plus: Jim Carbone Shares Thoughts

Institutions such as Modern Plastics bailing out of  Bridgeport are toothaches in a reelection cycle.

Mayor Bill Finch hopes he doesn’t field anymore of these company defections with all the other issues he must deal with in 2011. When a company says sayonara after 65 years of doing business in the city, especially when the company president says the city was unresponsive to his call, it’s a punch to the gut. That’s what Bing Carbone, president of Modern Plastics, says occurred. He called, no one from the city responded. Okay, he said, I’ll go to Shelton.

That’s, of course, if mayoral challengers know how to take advantage. If State Rep. Chris Caruso gets into the race, he’ll pounce on the Modern Plastics decision to move to Shelton. “Knock, knock, anyone home at City Hall?”  So far the only formally announced Democratic mayoral candidate is John Gomes, former Finch administrative official who had a falling-out with the mayor.

I don’t know John Gomes well. I interviewed him, he seems like a good guy, but he’s shown no real substance on issues in his early going. He’ll need to very soon, otherwise he’ll not connect with voters he’ll need to become a relevant candidate. As some posters debated on OIB the past few days he authored an opinion piece in the Connecticut Post on education. The article had no specifics. When a candidate authors one of those op-ed pieces you want the reader to come away with something that will stick.

Caruso, who is well known and brings a voter base to the table, can afford to sit back until early 2011. An unknown candidate such as John Gomes, lacking financial resources, must share some specificity to cut through the static. If he’s all about ideas, what are the ideas? His campaign handler Carolanne Curry is a veteran political operative who appears to be coddling her candidate.

At some point soon Gomes must share his rationale for running, what he stands for, why he’ll be better. Saying I’ll demand an inclusive administration won’t work. And saying what’s wrong with government won’t work. It doesn’t resonate. As a candidate you must have a basis: what you’ll do that the current occupant of City Hall isn’t doing. Every opposition candidate has the same challenge.

The Modern Plastics departure throws open the door for the opposition to begin a discussion about business retention, business recruitment and paying attention to the little things that mean a lot. We’ll see who can make that argument.

Speaking of Modern Plastics, Jim Carbone who served as company president for many years, shares his observations about his commitment to the city in response to comments by Joel Gonzalez.

OK, Mr. Gonzalez and anyone else who may want to hear the real story from the guy who owned and ran Modern Plastics for over 35 years and who lived on Howard Avenue above a small glass company started by my dad Joseph Carbone in 1946. I worked in that glass company for all of my young life as we lived on Pembroke St. and later East Main St. We grew away from glass in the late ’60s and added more and more space and of course more and more jobs. As the West End of Bridgeport fell apart I started to suffer nightly break-ins and a arson fire or two, but as everyone left I stayed. In an effort to help I worked with Mary Moran, later served on Ganim’s transition team, became the President of the West End business association, also was chairman of the West End CC. I spent lots and lots of time trying to turn things around in the West End. I also served six years on the board of ed.

In 1990 I went to the bank and got a 1.5 mil. loan and built the finest and only new building in the West End, in spite of everything around me falling apart. The land on State Street that you talk about was sold to me at fair market price and it took more than 8 years for me to get the land. Then at the end of 2004 I received news that I had a problem with cancer and decided it was best for my family and myself to sell the company that I loved so much.

The decision to move the Company out of Bridgeport was not mine, I own the buildings and had plans to develop that whole block on State St. I stayed in this city through some of the worst times. I spent money and hired many many great people most of whom spent 25-35 years working for a company that treated them with respect. It has been a very sad day to hear about them moving out in spite of my many offers to lower the rent. I live in Bridgeport and God help me I still love and care about the place.

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32 comments

  1. *** Where was the BRBC & West End Business Assoc. during the early decision-making process if any? We already know how out of touch the city’s economic development dept. is concerning anything not downtown! *** One step forward & two steps back, no? ***

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  2. It’s very early in the mayoral cycle as the governors race is barely over. We have one candidate who has thrown his hat in the ring and Ms. Curry is probably holding back the horse at the starter’s gate. There has got to be a well-thought-out timetable. Caruso could be heading to Hartford for a sure bet job and salary. Wait and see. It’s EARLY.

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  3. As they say, no press is bad press and as far as I can see, Gomes’ article kept him in the limelight here all weekend long and I’m sure he thanks you for starting this week’s thread with his name on your lips! I am also enough of a student of politics to recognize “spin” when I see it. This talk of lack of substance from this particular candidate, initiated by a blogger here who works in the mayor’s office (you know who you are) and picked up by you this morning is just that–spin. I am not by any means on anyone’s bandwagon but this guy’s got to be a little scary to the establishment. As for you Lennie, calling Gomes out and suggesting he is hiding behind Ms. Curry’s skirts is a stroke of genius! Imagine both Gomes and Newton going head to head right here on OIB! Would be really good for advertising revenue, no? It would also probably be really hard to witness since Gomes is fluent in several languages and from the little I’ve seen of Mr. Newton here, he appears to have trouble with English.

    Remember that Caruso had zero substance and a message that consisted of nothing more than cleaning house of the cronies. Sounds good to me! And it resonated enough with voters that he almost pulled it out of the bag. As someone else mentioned here, it’s still very early in the game and I doubt any serious candidate is going to lay out all his cards, particularly until you see what Caruso’s plans are. Gomes has thus far made it plainly clear he has identified a whole host of specific issues which must be addressed in order to move this city forward. As far as I am concerned, that’s a helluva lot more than anyone else has done so far. And it’s gotten us talking about it. Good start, I’d say.

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  4. Mr BPT // Nov 15, 2010 at 6:59 am

    Great job BPT 1 You should start your own blog, right down the middle.

    He could call it a “Lob Blog!” I like mine high and tight!

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  5. I don’t see Finch blogging on here. Caruso, nope. Fabrizi, nada. Even Ernie first came on as Big Daddy. Gomes has 4 kids, a business to run, and pays Curry to be his manager. The attempts to draw him out for advertisement revenue is not going to fool a smart candidate.

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    1. Hector A. Diaz // Nov 15, 2010 at 10:18 am
      to your posting

      Hector,
      No, Ms. Curry is not a paid political hack … there is an OIB blogger who put out that rumor … and who knows if it’s friend or foe when everyone has got to be anonymous …

      Thank you for not being anonymous Hector …

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  6. Great pot Lennie. I looked at the John Gomes website and didn’t see a policy on business retention. So let’s be very direct here.
    Where does John Gomes stand on a Living Wage Ordinance for the city of Bridgeport?

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  7. Business retention should be a campaign topic as should economic development. These are 2 important items that are key to the city’s survival.
    As it stand now our economic development director is a near zero.
    With the GE site soon to be demolished I wonder if our economic development team is looking at that site.
    This city can have a ton of ordinances and fire codes and criminal laws but if there is no one to enforce them they don’t mean squat. Maybe it’s time the do-nothing council review all the ordinances and get rid of the ones that hinder development and business retention.
    BTW Lennie not all of us dudes from the ’60s love pot.

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  8. TC,
    The question is to whom and how much???
    How many tax deals could Sal DiNardo cook up if there were no controls?
    Would you give a 100% tax abatement for 5 years to get someone to come to town? To stay in town?

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  9. Grin: I am not sure if I would give someone 100% tax abatement. There would have to be something really worthwhile for the city and its residents.
    Let’s say GM wants to build a plant here and we had the land and infrastructure and the result was 1500 jobs and they signed a long-term lease. I would then consider 5 years at tax-free status.

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  10. Grin: Speaking of DiNardo he owns the site where Bpt Machines is located. Just before the Remington fire he started demolishing the Bpt Machine site. When the fire happened he stopped the demolition of Bpt machines.
    What we have now is a partially demolished building that is wide open and surely is unsafe. No one has been back there in over a month. The question here is where are the city ordinances Mr. Walsh loves to mention? Where are the city departments that should be monitoring this dangerous situation? You see Mr. Walsh it all depends on whose ox is being gored.

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  11. Thank you Mr. Carbone for responding. I was one of the City Councilmen for the 131st district from 1995-2001. I was raised in that neighborhood, I ran for the Council seat because of the situation you described. You have no idea of the obstacles and excuses I had to deal with when it came to providing for that section of my district. Tito Molina did his best and had to deal with much of the same.
    The money was there for the West Side and I can tell you that Pat Crossin funneled that money to Black Rock–he was the chairman of Budget and Appropriations. Bill Finch was the chairmen of Contracts and Appointments, one of the committees that could have made sure that the land was transferred ASAP. I don’t blame you for deciding to leave and I always wondered what the outcome would be. I know now! Good luck and thank you and your family for the 65-year effort.

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    1. Joel, just so you and anyone else will understand I am JIM CARBONE, 67 years old–I never made the decision to leave Bridgeport, I would have never left. That decision was made by another family member–after I sold the company.

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