Will Bridgeport Light Up Like Broadway? Hartford HealthCare’s “Illuminated” Sign Proposal Atop St. V’s Draws Residential Fire, Zoning Change Sought For Sign Approval

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  1. Judge Lopez’s commentary regarding the on-going, viral (opportunistic) hijacking of the Bridgeport-regional healthcare-delivery apparatus by Hartford Healthcare (HHC) — with the consequential threat of limited healthcare availability and quality for Bridgeport residents, and in a related, strategic/tactical context, the hijacking of the sensory prerogatives of Bridgeport residents — is absolutely apropos in regard to its impact on (and reflection of) the city’s on-going political-economic demise.

    Indeed; the present case of the environmental infliction of the BILLION-CANDLE HHC sign on the Bridgeport skyline, while seemingly just “one of those Bridgeport zoning issues,” serves to illuminate HHC’s intentions — and ability –to leverage Bridgeport City Hall in its drive to overwhelm and dominate the healthcare-delivery sector of the regional economy by way of the obliteration of the (hobbling?!) BRIDGEPORT identity of high-profile, elementally-Bridgeport institutions such as Saint Vincent’s Hospital (and even BRIDGEPORT Mayor Ganim’s vanity project of the remaking of the always-controversial BRIDGEPORT Bluefish Harbor Yard ballpark into the vaunted HARTFORD Healthcare Amphitheater)…

    HHC’s hyper-aggressive assertion of its presence in Bridgeport is such that it can only be perceived politically.

    The speed, force and manner in which HHC has asserted its presence in Bridgeport can be interpreted as a political blitzkrieg, in which, implicitly, it can be assumed that they have bought into the next Ganim election/political gambit, per their financing/perceptual engineering, definable in terms of the purchase of a new identity for the Ganim political domain, with the entrance to the latter through the doors of his latest, tax-payer subsidized vanity-development at Harbor Yard. Indeed the Amphitheater moniker helps HHC eclipse/obliterate any conflicting identity-/image-conflict implicit per its “Bridgeport” regional presence, even as it does the same for the Next Governor of Connecticut… Distract. Divert. Deny… If it doesn’t say “Bridgeport,” it isn’t Bridgeport. If it looks pretty and has your name on it and isn’t sullied by a “Bridgeport” identity it gives you and your bought-and-paid for gubernatorial hopeful some added image enhancement —and POWER…

    But back to The Sign; it will be obnoxious, and inappropriate/disrespectful for the neighborhood and city. It could even lead to confusion for those seeking landmark, healthcare locations in BRIDGEPORT…

    And why would our Mayor want our city’s name, or those of our identifying institutions eclipsed/obliterated?! Perhaps to cover his tracks in the perception voters in a statewide election, even as he courts big campaign donors — and maybe even a new employer?!

    First the, once-proud, distinguished University of Bridgeport is allowed to collapse and go on the auction block… Now the HHC blitzkrieg on Bridgeport… What’s next on what remains of Ganim-II’s watch?!

    Cheers!

    Happy Bicentennial HARTFORD! — oh, I mean BRIDGEPORT!…

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  3. Again: thank you Judge Lopez!
    The only difference with this is that no one will be arrested and indicted over a lighted sign as Defilippo was for voter fraud. However, Zoning and OPED should stand trial for assisting in many of Bridgeport’s mishaps and underhanded and corrupt dealings.
    Cheers!

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    1. Gotta love those “text amendments!!”
      Can’t get what you want based upon current regs.? Write a new reg to fit your need like Mikey had done.
      Willinger/ Haig not involved!!?? Lol! We’ve witnessed rooms full of people against a proposal, numerous facts presented, and testimony from professionals in the field.
      Nothing mattered. Every issue should have a packed house because even if it’s not your issue, eventually, it will affect you.
      Cheers.

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  4. Thank you Judge Lopez for your words on the signage questions that are before our Zoning representatives, especially when you ask about the necessity of this eight foot sign as proposed as a method to find out where the Hospital is located.
    Yes, healthcare has shown us a changing business model, with offices for emergency, one-day surgery, limited outpatient testing, etc. in many places locally that offer medical services, but also on entertainment venues like the overbudget by $7 Million open air location opened this summer. (Will Hartford Healthcare be offering beer (and a shot, vaccine, or COVID test soon, to extend their brand services?)
    But with the closing of Park City Hospital decades ago, and repurposing of that property, the remaining two hospitals have stayed pretty close to their footprints, haven’t they? Names change but the ambulances get to the closest or most appropriate one through agreements, protocols, and technology, also available as apps on customer phones.
    So, why the need for a dominant sign with objections from the community? Vanity? Competition in the Board Rooms? What would St. Vincent say? Time will tell.

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  5. So, can someone enlighten me as to what types of restrictions do the other cities in CT have?
    Is it strictly 3 feet? Or are some 4 or 5 feet?
    Does it depend on the neighborhood?
    Are Central Business Districts more welcoming to bigger signs where residential districts are not?
    Is Bridgeport playing catch up or are we being asked to be the trailblazer?

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  6. Bob, I don’t have a Blue’s Clue, without getting Jeff’s vibe’s riled up, Stamford Hospital has a fairly large sign on its hospital. Jeff, breath, remember your zen, woosah 🤣

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKcpPhuQePw&t=3s

    Keeping with the woosah theme, I don’t know what the F you are talking about. I need a Blues Clue as to why OIB’s political pundit is addressing a seemingly irrelevant matter and attacking Healthcare provider, Port’s largest employer.

    I can understand having a political side against Joe, Mario, even Defilippo in some of the generosities granted on the grounds of political patronage or even corruption. However, I am going to need a Blue’s Clue as to why sound off on HHC, its CEO, or its business model or advertisement.

    I can only assume it seems more to do with sides than a sign. If so, how are these sides chosen? by lot, height, race, “Eeny, meeny, miny, moe”?

    Where’s Steve and Blue when you need them?

    I stand by my 3D sign on the parking garage by the Arena and Amphitheater. You won’t get more advertising exposure, with 95 and a high-tech 3D sign.

    I don’t think anyone ever questioned whether healthcare is a business with a spending cost of 4 trillion annually. Can’t speak of the HHC healthcare business model, however, our employer base insurance model is willfully flawed and is going to be in its own takeover.

    P.S JML I don’t know what “St Vincent” 🙂 would say but I bet he would be Da Paul-ed with the vanity in the boardrooms. 🤣

    Keeping with the theme of healing. 🙂

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G83F4f0Nrk8

    OR, come on people it’s not like you don’t know. BAM I’m out of here. 😀

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxFLlnC4VS0

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